1. By STACY COWLEYAUG. 2, 2016
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker with State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg after he signed the
salary bill into law on Monday. ( Credit Elise Amendola/Associated Press)
In a groundbreaking effort to close the wage gap between men and women, Massachusetts has
become the first state to bar employers from asking about applicants’ salaries before making
them job offers.
The new law will require hiring managers to offer a compensation figure upfront — based on
what the applicant’s worth is to the company, rather than on what he or she made at a previous
position.
The bipartisan legislation, signed into law Monday by Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, could
inspire similar rules in other liberal-leaning states, as the issue of men historically out earning
women who are doing the same job has leapt onto the national political scene. Nationally, there
have been repeated efforts to strengthen equal pay laws — which are already on the books but
tend to lack teeth — but none have succeeded so far.

2. “I think very few businesses consciously discriminate, but they need to become aware of it,” said
a Massachusetts State Senator Pat Jehlen, Democrat of Somerville, one of the bill’s co-sponsors.
“These are things that don’t just affect one job; it keeps women’s wages down over their entire
lifetime.”
No longer will job seekers be compelled to disclose their salary or wages at their current or
previous jobs — which often leaves applicants with the nagging suspicion that they might have
been offered more money if the earlier figure had been higher. Job candidates will still be
allowed to volunteer their salary information.
The Massachusetts law, which will take effect in July 2018, takes aim at the subtle factors that
often play into compensation decisions. Companies will not be allowed to prohibit their workers
from telling others how much they are paid, a move that advocates say can increase salary
transparency and help employees uncover disparities.
Federal law already prohibits gender-based pay discrimination, but violations are hard to prove,
and wage gaps persist in nearly every industry. Nationally, women are paid 79 cents for every
dollar that men earn, according to the Census Bureau.
The Massachusetts bill passed the State Legislature unanimously and won support from a
number of local business groups, including the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the
Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which initially opposed the new legislation but withdrew
its objections after some changes were made.